AN ICELANDIC man who snapped up the last ever McDonald's meal to be sold in the country was stunned when he found his burger and chips had NOT gone mouldy – SIX YEARS later.

The fast food meal, which had been on display at a museum, has noticeably shrivelled

The fast food meal, which had been on display at a museum, has shrivelled – with a few fries snapped up by strong-stomached museum visitors – but there is no mould on the 2,190-day-old snack.

I regard it as an historical item now. I think it's incredible

Hjortur Smarason

McDonald's withdrew from Iceland following the financial crisis in 2009, making it one of just a handful of countries without a branch of the fast food restaurant.

McDonalds' previously had three restaurants on the Nordic island but the collapse of Iceland's currency made it uneconomical to continue business.

Fast food fan Hjortur Smarason deliberately waited until the end of the chain's last day of opening in Iceland, before walking into his local McDonald's outlet and buying one final burger and portion of fries.

He described buying the last burger as "an historic occasion".

The 28-year-old then happily donated the meal to the Na­tional Mu­seum of Ice­land where it spent three years stored in a plastic bag.

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Mr Smarason described buying the last burger as "an historic occasion"

The museum returned the last Icelandic burger and fries to Mr Smarason in 2012.

"They had it on display until somebody complained and it was decided that a museum was not the appropriate place for food on display like this, and so they asked me for permission to destroy it," he said.

"But I regard it as an historical item now. I think it's incredible that it seems to show no signs of decomposition, although apparently the fact that there were fewer chips returned to me was because some museum visitors had eaten some of them."

For the past three years, Mr Smarason has put the burger on display in the bar of his local hotel Skó­garhlíð, in Iceland's capital Reykjavik.

He added: "We no longer have a McDonald's here, but we do have a McDonald's burger and it's probably the oldest in the world, so I reckon we shouldn't complain too much."